Mstation Classical Reviews

Age of the Diva Albinoni Almost Christmas Arias, Hampson, Harnoncourt Bach Keyboard Concertos Bach Viola Bach, Barenboim Bach, Cantatas Bach, Concertos Bach, JS, Keyboard Works Bach, Mass in B Minor Bach, Mutter Bach, trio-sonatas Baroque Christmas Album Baroque Trumpet Bartok, Concertos Bartoli Bartoli, Opera Proibita Bax, Baroque Beethoven Piano Beethoven String Quartets Beethoven and Brahms Beethoven, piano Bella Donna: Courtly Love Belle Epoque Melodies Berlioz, Les Troyens Binchois, Dufay Boccherini, Cello Concertos Boxed Baroque Boyce, Eight Symphonies British Light Classics British Piano Concertos Brubeck, The Gates of Justice Bruch, Violin Concerto Callas Canteloube, Chants d'Auvergne Carols Chanticleer, Sound in Spirit Charpentier Charpentier, Lebegue Christmas 04 Christmas Vespers Contemporary and Medieval Copland Delius Der Rosenkavalier Dukachev - Beethoven, Prokofiev, Rachminov Elgar Elgar, Marches Elgar, The Enigma Variations Faure songs French Medieval Songs Fux Gounod, Faust Graham: Causon, Ravel, Debussy Great Ballets Grieg, Franck Handel Arias Handel, Deborah Handel, Messiah Handel, The Triumph ... Handel, Water Music DVD Hapsburg Music Haydn Haydn, Handel DVD's Herz Piano Jane Austen's Songbook Josefowicz Recital King's Singers La Fille Mal Gardee Lang Lang and Yo Yo Ma: Farewell Isabella and Chinese things Lauridsen Llibre Vermell Luci, Bartoli, and a dead diva Lully, Comedies-ballets, Phaeton Maerzmusik sampler Mahler Symphony No 7 Mahler, Berg Mantovani Matsudaira Medieval French Songs Mendelssohn Sacred Mendelssohn, Dvorak Messa di Gloria Michael Haydn Miles Davis ... sorta Monterverdi, Orfeo Monteverdi Vespers Monteverdi, Poppea Monteverdi, The Sacred Music 3 Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Handel Montiverdi Vespers Morricone Mozart Symphonies Mozart, Cosi fan tutte Mozart, Exsultate Jubilate Mozart, Mass in C Minor Mozart, symphonies 40, 41 Mozart: Die Zauberflote Mozart: the string quartets Mozrt Requiem Mutter Mozart New English Hymnal New RSS system and Feeds Nikolay Roslavets Peerson, Latin Motets Penguins March Pergolesi, La Serva Padrona Philip Glass, Symphonies 2 and 3 Poulenc concerto Proms Purcell - Dido and Aeneas Purcell Sonatas Purcell: Dido and Aeneas Rachmaninov, Piano Ramallah - Beethoven No. 5 Rameau, Les Paladins Reger, Bach and Telemann Variations Renaissance Organ Music Romantic Cello Concertos Romantic Violin Russian Album -Anna Netrebko Rutter Mass Sanctuary, the heart has its reasons Scarlatti, The complete Keyboard Sonatas Schubert and Mozart piano Schubert Ð Death and the Maiden Shostakovich Shostakovich and Schnittke, Cello Shostakovich/Josefowicz Sibelius String Quartets Sixteen: Ikon South American Baroque Stainer, The Crucifiction Sting does Dowland Strauss tone poem Takemitsu Tallis Tchaikovsky, Symphony No 5, Verdi, Sibelius The Kirov celebrates Nijinsky Toshiro Mayazumi Vaughan Williams Verdi View from a dark tunnel Virginal -Susann van Soldt Vivaldi Cello Vivaldi, Motezuma Vivaldi, Sacred Music Vivaldi: Dixit Dominus Von Otter Wagner, Das Rheingold Wagner, Gotterdammerung DVD Water Music, Music for the Royal Fireworks Weir, Gillian Weiss / Lindberg Lute Whitacre, Cloudburst Williams, Bingham: Mass von Weber, Chamber Music

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 Haydn, Handel DVD's This month I had a look at two DVD's from Arthaus Musik featuring Handel's Messiah and Hayden's The Creation - two quite religious themes which I happened to watch on a Sunday. This made me feel quite good as I do actually go to church but haven't managed it much lately. I had noticed Arthaus a few years back as they caught my eye with various offerings and in the meantime they have grown quite a lot and have recently acquired the TDK name as well so their catalogue has suddenly grown large and has quite a nice quality feel to it. One of the problems with music DVD's has been the production. We shouldn't have any qualms about looking at the scenes as that's what we do when we attend concerts or operas although, I imagine, there are quite a few people who don't watch very closely during a concert. The problem has been one of perspective - operas, for example, are staged and costumed to be watched from a certain distance and if a camera is up a soloist's nose, everything that has been carefully planned by the makeup and costume people goes out the window and we're frequently left with this rather exagerrated figure. Similarly, the staging frequently looks a little silly when subjected to a closeup view. As well as that, the mental soundstage becomes confused as we trip around the hall with no change in the sound qualities. What to do? It's actually quite difficult. With new recordings (and many of the issues are from TV recordings of the past - The Creation is from 1992) a proper soundfield could be recorded and the mix altered accordingly with the camera cuts... but subtly and not to the full real affect. Stages and makeup designed for the event would be good as well. One problem with all this is that it would cost a fortune and so there would be a likelihood of a very limited repertoire - one that many, in advance, would regard as dumbed down. We shall see what, if anything, happens. Haydn's The Creation was filmed in a lovely Rococco church somewhere (couldn't find any reference in the notes as to where) with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Festival Choir of Lucerne, with Peter Schreier conducting. It is rather a nice piece of music and sounded quite lovely in the old church. In this work there also echoes of the work of the subject of the other DVD for the month - namely Mr. Handel. We have a little double-dotting and a few trills from the singers but this is its own work and comparisons of this kind can be odious - best to enjoy it for what it is. Handel's Messiah is as well-known a piece of music as you can get. This version is from the Brandenburg Consort along with the choir of King's College Cambridge, and conducted by Stephen Cleobury. As Handel was from Halle in Brandenburg-Prussia, the former is a nice, though perhaps accidental, touch. It was shot at the Pieterskerk in Leiden, Netherlands, in 1993 and was a TV production originally. With those musical elements you'd hardly expect this to be anything other than a first class production - and so it is. (Baron K) [] permanent link